Dataset Information

Land snail biogeography and endemism in south-eastern Africa: Implications for the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot.

ABSTRACT: Invertebrates in general have long been underrepresented in studies on biodiversity, biogeography and conservation. Boundaries of biodiversity hotspots are often delimited intuitively based on floristic endemism and have seldom been empirically tested using actual species distributions, and especially invertebrates. Here we analyse the zoogeography of terrestrial malacofauna from south-eastern Africa (SEA), proposing the first mollusc-based numerical regionalisation for the area. We also discuss patterns and centres of land snail endemism, thence assessing the importance and the delimitation of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany (MPA) biodiversity hotspot for their conservation. An incidence matrix compiled for relatively well-collected lineages of land snails and slugs (73 taxa in twelve genera) in 40 a priori operational geographic units was subjected to (a) phenetic agglomerative hierarchical clustering using unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA), (b) parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE) and biotic element analysis (BEA). Fulfilling the primary objective of our study, the UPGMA dendrogram provided a hierarchical regionalisation and identified five centres of molluscan endemism for SEA, while the PAE confirmed six areas of endemism, also supported by the BEA. The regionalisation recovers a zoogeographic province similar to the MPA hotspot, but with a conspicuous westward extension into Knysna (towards the Cape). The MPA province, centres and areas of endemism, biotic elements as well as the spatial patterns of species richness and endemism, support the MPA hotspot, but suggest further extensions resulting in a greater MPA region of land snail endemism (also with a northward extension into sky islands-Soutpansberg and Wolkberg), similar to that noted for vertebrates. The greater MPA region provides a more robustly defined region of conservation concern, with centres of endemism serving as local conservation priorities.

SUBMITTER: Perera SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7932150 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Land snail biogeography and endemism in south-eastern Africa: Implications for the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot.

Perera Sandun J SJ Herbert David G DG Procheş Şerban Ş Ramdhani Syd S

PloS one 20210304 3

Invertebrates in general have long been underrepresented in studies on biodiversity, biogeography and conservation. Boundaries of biodiversity hotspots are often delimited intuitively based on floristic endemism and have seldom been empirically tested using actual species distributions, and especially invertebrates. Here we analyse the zoogeography of terrestrial malacofauna from south-eastern Africa (SEA), proposing the first mollusc-based numerical regionalisation for the area. We also discuss ...[more]

PMID: 33662026

Similar Datasets

Project description:The minute (adult size 1.3-4.8 mm) land snail species of the family Diplommatinidae in the Fiji archipelago are revised based on historical material and modern (1998-99) collections targeting limestone outcrops on the largest island, Viti Levu, and several smaller islands in the Lau group. The forty-two species (including 30 new species) belong to the genera Moussonia Semper, 1865, Palaina Semper, 1865 and Diancta Martens, 1867, which are briefly characterized and keyed. The diagnostic structure of the inner lamellar system of each species is illustrated. All species except one are endemic to Fiji. In Viti Levu, the 12 localities surveyed each had 1-13 (average 5) species of Diplommatinidae; ten species were each found at a single site only. In the Lau islands, five islands were visited, with 1-4 species per island; four species are known from single islands. The number of historically known species not recollected in 1998-99 (7 species), the number of single-site occurrences (14 species), and the numerous islands - including limestone islands - that have not been surveyed at all, indicate that the 42 species of Diplommatinidae currently known from Fiji represent perhaps only half of the Fiji diplommatinid fauna. Such numbers approach the diplommatinid diversity of Palau (39 described and more than 60 undescribed species), and surpasses by far the diversity of other South Pacific archipelagos of comparable land area (New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Samoa). Nomenclatural acts: Lectotypes designated: Diplommatinafuscula, Diplommatinafusculavar.vitiana, Diplommatinagodeffroyana, Diplommatinagodeffroyanavar.latecostata, Diplommatinatuberosa, Diplommatinamartensivar.macrostoma, all Mousson, 1870. Neotypes designated: Diplommatinasubregularis, Diplommatinaascendens, Diplommatinaquadrata, all Mousson, 1870. New species: Dianctaaurea sp. n., Dianctaaurita sp. n., Dianctabasiplana sp. n., Dianctacontroversa sp. n., Dianctadensecostulata sp. n., Dianctadextra sp. n., Dianctadilatata sp. n., Dianctadistorta sp. n., Dianctapulchella sp. n., Dianctarotunda sp. n., Dianctasubquadrata sp. n., Dianctatrilamellata sp. n., Moussoniaacuta sp. n., Moussoniabarkeri sp. n., Moussoniabrodieae sp. n., Moussonialongipalatalis sp. n., Moussoniaminutissima sp. n., Moussoniaobesa sp. n., Moussoniapolita sp. n., Moussoniauncinata sp. n., Moussoniavitianoides sp. n., Palainaalberti sp. n., Palainaflammulata sp. n., Palainaglabella sp. n., Palainakitteli sp. n., Palainalabeosa sp. n., Palainaparietalis sp. n., Palainasulcata sp. n., Palainatruncata sp. n., Palainatuberosissima sp. n.

Dataset Information

Land snail biogeography and endemism in south-eastern Africa: Implications for the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot.

Publications

Land snail biogeography and endemism in south-eastern Africa: Implications for the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets